England are trying, but it has been a long fall from 2003

Sunday 18 June 2006 09.09 EDT
First published on Sunday 18 June 2006 09.09 EDT

For the past three years England's notion of how they want to play the game has been as mysterious as their decline has been obvious. It all used to be so clear - Martin Johnson's pack did a number on you and Jonny Wilkinson accumulated points until the cushion was comfy enough to permit a little extravagance in the last quarter. It wasn't necessarily gorgeous, but it won them the World Cup, which certainly was.

Johnson and Wilkinson, through age and injury, the one as inevitable and cruel as the other, have gone. They have left holes that not only remain unfilled but threaten to suck all surrounding matter out of shape and into chaos.

The England pack can still do a bit of this and a bit of that, especially at Twickenham. Possession is not yet a real problem and sometimes they can make even teams as good as the All Blacks live on scraps.

But ever since Ireland rumbled their line-out at Twickenham three seasons ago in the Six Nations, they have lost their aura. They dominate but they do not destroy. They never distribute pain with the unsmiling glee with which Johnson doled it out. When Chris Latham, on his way to setting up Lote Tuqiri's first-half try, ran through Joe Worsley, Graham Rowntree, Michael Lipman and George Chuter, it was three years of doubt condensed into four seconds.

Ben Kay, who was majestic back in 2003, has somehow survived the decline - not without multiple sackings to the bench - but is not the athlete he was. He does not seem to have recovered from dropping that pass in the World Cup final. He is the one-man emblem of a great pack that has lost its power.

The decline of England's backs has been less dramatic because they were never such a visible force in the old days. The best supporting angle yesterday, to take a pass from Andy Goode, was run by referee Steve Walshe. In 2003 he fought as hard as anyone against England; now he apparently backs them.

Iain Balshaw used to purr and glide. Now he misses the ball by a mile, or it hits him on the shoulder. When he cut into the line in the second half he took a bad pass from Mathew Tait well, but immediately kicked it out on the full.

When Jamie Noon poked a kick over the dead-ball line it summed up three years of lateral travel and indecision. It took a dummy and sprint by hooker George Chuter to show what skill and pace can produce. Mind you, he smiled when he realised it was Al Baxter chasing him.

For real angles of support you really had to look only at the Wallaby backline. They all had the confidence to stay deep and time their run late. There are many things that Wilkinson did that Stephen Larkham cannot do. On the other hand there are things Larkham does with the ball in hand that Wilkinson cannot do. The outside-half was brilliant yesterday as a master of variation and surprise.

Coach Andy Robinson has also survived the age of rot. Apparently he was given an encouraging endorsement by the players during the review of the last Six Nations. That contrasts with the whispers circulating that the players are pretty contemptuous of England training sessions, deeming the treatment they receive with their clubs to be superior to what they are offered at international level.

At last there are signs of a co-ordinated strategy. It's probably too late to prepare England for the next World Cup. And it's all happened too soon to have been of any use on this trip to Australia, but at least England played with an intent.

This is due to the arrival - the return - of Brian Ashton on Robinson's arm. He's there to hold the senior coach up and to reinvigorate England's attacking game.

Ashton has always been a pragmatic counsellor as well as an instinctive adventurer. He does not want willy-nilly running. On the other hand he does not want players to be bound by the conventions of their upbringing. In England, that automatically implies a conservative approach.

Pat Sanderson and Peter Richards made conspicuous attempts to keep the ball in circulation. Tait and Mike Catt were never afraid to give length to their passes, to put Tom Varndell in space.

The trouble - as Ashton himself forewarned us - is that it is too soon for the execution to be perfect. Australia was never going to be the place to try out untested procedures. Johnson's England at their peak only just managed to win here; this team was bound to come off second best in a game of experimentation.

But at least they tried. They tried, and they made their mistakes and were mocked by the Melbourne crowd. And they tried them again. England were determined to break free of the fetters of the past three years.

The trouble is that the forwards remain the heart of the England team. There are some conventions that not even Ashton can defy. England rugby begins up front and ends not far from there.

And the England forwards are not close to rediscovering the chilling, cold-hearted Anglo-Saxon cruelty of old. They are beginning to appreciate the pleasures of flipping and tipping out of the tackle but seem to have forgotten the deeper-rooted pleasures of giving opponents an utter going-over. Without a mean machine from one to eight England are only going to see their losing streak extend.

Ireland will arrive in Australia with two defeats against their name and nothing but cheer in their hearts. England will leave with two defeats and faint sparkles of pleasure extinguished by the reality of their progress. The World Cup is approaching fast and England's progress is agonisingly slow.